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Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Junk Mail Feather Art Tutorial

Ever wondered what you could possible do with all the piles of junk mail you get every week? .... besides throwing it away or sending it to the recycling bin, I mean. I always notice the bright colors and fun patterns and think... I should make something with this. I hate for good materials to go to waste!

Well, I finally came up with something fun..... some Junk Mail Feather Art! Economical and easy to make.

Step 2. With a paper cutter, cut long skinny strips of junk mail. Cut them long enough to cover the computer paper diagonally.

Step 3: Glue the junk mail strips diagonally on the backside of the computer paper - make sure the feather picture is face down for this. Cover the entire page.

Step 4: Trim the edges of your paper with a paper cutter. Since the final size of the piece is 8x10 inches, trim the length to 10 inches here. Then trim the width to 8 inches.

Your sheet should look like this after trimming it down.

Step 5: Flip your sheet over and on the edge farthest away from the feather picture, slice off a few vertical strips. I made four, each progressively smaller than the one before. Make sure not to cut through the feather picture here. You are going to need it for the next step.

Step 6. Cut out the feather picture on the backside. You should now have four junk mail strips and one feather. Now you are ready to assemble your piece of art!

Step 7: Take your 8x10 sheet of watercolor paper and glue the vertical strips down to one side and the feather centered in the remaining space. Presto! Junk mail art!

Step 8: (optional) You can turn the remaining junk mail sheet into a work of art by gluing it down to another sheet of paper. Sweet! Two pieces of art for the price of one!

Neat idea. I like the finished effect, and the free source of material. I was looking at an envelope that I was about to toss into recycling one day and was intrigued by the security pattern on the inside of the envelope. I realized it was a free source of patterned paper. I have become slightly obsessed with saving envelopes now, fascinated by all the different patterns I find inside envelopes. I keep thinking there must be some way to use them in a collage but I haven't yet had the courage to try to make a finished picture from them. I think this is the trick I need to get me started! I like the balance of the clean lines of the grahic element and the riotous colors and patterns of the paper.BTW, do you find using rubber cement annoying at all, in terms of causing headaches? I wonder if a collage medium would work just as well without giving off chemical smells? RC has its benefits, but I never liked the smell.

The rubber cement smell has never bothered me. I don't usually get headaches from smells, mostly from back muscles being too tight. I think a collage medium or another kind of glue would work fine for this project, though I've only tried it with rubber cement.

This is so creative and Green! great way to crate art with things we all have available and in abundance! lolThank You so much for sharing! I'm pining this project into my Just because it's pretty board!Lizy@http://justdipitinchocolate.blogspot.com/P.S came over the Sugar Bee Crafts party!

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